The present invention relates to a new and improved method of feeding or conveying a textile fiber band or the like composed of staple fibers and to a new and improved apparatus for the performance of the aforesaid method.
The feeding of textile fiber bands formed of staple fibers which do not possess any or only a weak twist and thus exhibit a low tear strength, such as slivers, roving or threads of a fiber arrangement, to the further processing locations or machines is associated with problems inasmuch as the feed and drawing-in of the fiber bands by means of the mechanical transport elements is time consuming. At the creel of a drawing frame it is necessary for the initial manual drawing-in to lay for instance all of the bands over the rolls to the feed device of the machine.
Furthermore, the piecing together, i.e., the interconnection or twisting of an outgoing band with a new band requires a certain amount of time. Since the modern day machines increasingly operate at ever greater delivery speeds, and furthermore, it is not possible to appreciably increase the size of the cans, this expenditure in time is of ever increasing significance with regard to the can change operation which is required at shorter intervals.